MSI proto-nettop combines Celeron, GeForce, Blu-ray

Despite their uncertain future, Nvidia's integrated graphics chipsets are definitely still alive and kicking. Engadget reports that MSI has unveiled an interesting little machine called the Wind Box DE200. While it looks a whole lot like Asus' Eee Box nettops, the systems includes a Celeron M processor, an Nvidia GeForce 9400M chipset, and a Blu-ray drive, making it more like a tiny media center PC than anything else.

The Wind Box DE200's processor runs at 2GHz, likely making it faster than the 1.6GHz single-core Atom that's so commonplace in nettops. MSI has also tossed in 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and a choice of HDMI and DVI display outputs. And, further eschewing the nettop trend, the company has selected Windows Vista Home Premium as its operating system of choice.

In our review of Nvidia's Ion platform, we found that the GeForce 9400 happily decoded 1080p video with an Atom riding shotgun, but the single-channel memory setup caused problems with 1080i playback. If MSI outfits the DE200 with dual-channel RAM, it could have a very potent media center system on its hands—one that should even be able to play reasonably recent games at lower resolutions.